


The Things They Carried

by dancingloki



Category: Pacific Rim (2013)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Gen, Heavy Angst, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-03
Updated: 2015-12-03
Packaged: 2018-05-04 17:03:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 550
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5341745
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dancingloki/pseuds/dancingloki
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Sir, it’s—you were right. He survived the trip back through the breach, and he was alive when he broke the surface."</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Things They Carried

“Marshal Hansen? Sir, I…I have the report you asked for.”

“Thank you, Mr. Choi.” Herc looked up from his desk, where he’d been finishing up some paperwork.

Tendo looked nauseated, uncharacteristically pale. Both men were still dressed in formal clothes—Herc in his best dress uniform, Tendo in a somber dark suit—from that morning’s ceremony. The memorial ceremony, to honor the fallen heroes whose sacrifice had made it possible to seal the breach, ending the kaiju invasion once and for all:

Marshal Stacker Pentecost, lead pilot of _Striker Eureka_ ;

Chuck Hansen, his copilot;

and Raleigh Becket, lead pilot of _Lady Danger_.

It had been a deeply emotional day for all members of the Jaeger program, but most of all for the sole survivor of the assault on the breach. Mako Mori had lost both her drift partner and her adopted father in the attack, and although she tried to put on a brave face, her pain and grief were easy to see.

Of course, Tendo Choi was similarly affected, having known all three of the fallen very well; but Herc could tell that the cause of his current discomfort was not grief, but rather the file folder he was clutching in one sweaty palm.

Herc waved him into his office, closing and locking the door behind him.

“So the tech team got the data from Raleigh’s bio-reader?”

Tendo nodded miserably, and took a deep breath to steady himself before he began, in a quavery voice: “It was badly damaged, but they managed to pull his life signatures. Sir, it’s—you were right. He survived the trip back through the breach, and he was alive when he broke the surface. Weak, but alive. Then, thirty seconds after that, his vitals spiked and he—he went into cardiac arrest.”

He swallowed hard, visibly tearing up. “If he’d had a chance to recover, he might’ve made it, but when the choppers got out there…well, you saw how tightly she was holding him. He just—he just couldn’t breathe.”

Herc pursed his lips, nodding solemnly. He took the file from Tendo’s shaking hand, thumbing through it to confirm its contents. “Who else has seen this?” he asked, looking up at Tendo.

“Nobody.” He shook his head. “Only the tech who worked on the data chip, and I made sure they knew it was top-secret. The file you’re holding is the only hard copy.”

Herc nodded again, and with careful, deliberate movements, pulled a slim silver lighter from his pocket. He delicately lit the outside edge of the file, holding it by one corner above an empty metal trash can, watching to make sure every single scrap of paper was consumed by the flames before he let it go.

“Delete everything,” he said when it was done. “Every byte of data recovered, every record that this file ever existed, and when you’ve finished, have the chip completely destroyed.”

Tendo nodded once and turned to leave.

“Mr. Choi,” Herc called after him. Tendo turned, staring back at him with miserable, bloodshot eyes. Herc sat down heavily at his desk before continuing, grim-faced and bleak. “She can never know. Never.”

Tendo nodded again, biting his lower lip. “Understood, sir.”

The door shut behind him as the smell of burning paper curled through the room.

**Author's Note:**

> I don't know why I do these things, I really don't


End file.
